Bodybuilding for Skinny Guys
 

Contents

Step 0: Introduction
Step 1: Make the decision and stick to it
Step 2: Have a plan of action
Step 3: Calculate your diet requirements
Step 4: Create your diet - Part 1
Step 5: Create your diet - Part 2
Step 6: Training Overview
Step 7: Training
Step 8: Keep sticking with it!

Introduction

Are you sick of being skinny? Can't seem to gain weight or muscle no matter what you try? This is a guide I have made based on my own experience, and want to share with you how you can grow bigger and more muscular.

Since I was a teenager, I was always around 65-67kg, and at 180cm tall which was fairly skinny. I knew nothing about body building or diet, but over a 7 month period I reached 80kg, at almost the same body fat. Here is how I did it...

Step 1: Make the decision and stick to it

You have to make the decision that you want to gain your weight/muscle, and that it won't be easy, but no matter what it takes, you will stick to it! If your heart and mind isn't 110% commited then you will find it hard to reach your goals.

For people who are naturally skinny, it can seem an impossible task to gain weight. You may be suprised that, provided you stick to it, it may not be as 'hard' as you expect, at least it wasn't for me. It is hard, don't get me wrong, but it's no impossible task. So make the decision you want to change your body and commit yourself to that decision.

Step 2: Have a plan of action

Of course you are going to need a plan. The plan will involve what kind of food you will be eating, what kind of training to do. You will be spending a bit extra on food, so keep that in mind, and you will need to allow about an hour of time on your training days. It will take months of your time, so you have to make a lifestyle change - Diet and Gym will suddenly be taking a slice of your lifestyle, so plan ahead for this.

Step 3: Calculate your diet requirements

Diet is 50% of muscle building. Muscle mass does not just magically grow from training - it needs a fuel, not only to train, but also in the recovery period. To create a diet plan, firstly you need to calculate how many calories you need to sustain your current weight and lifestyle. Click the link below:

www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

On that page, calculate your current lifestyle calorie requirements, and write that number down. Now, add 1 hour into the 'Heavy' exercise box (and remove 1 hour from the 'Resting' box, then re-calculate, and write that number down. Now, add about 500 calories to the last number, and write then number down.

The last number is a guide to how many calories you need to both weight train for 1 hour per day, and to have a surplus (excess) of 500 calories in order to grow. This number is your daily goal, but may vary a little from person to person.

Step 4: Create your diet - Part 1

Whether you are losing weight, gaining weight or whatever, you should have a well balanced diet. The only difference in a weight gain or weight loss diet is how much you eat! That said, there can still be variation on the 'balance', depending on your goals.

Let's start from basics, sorry if you already know this but we have to cover it! Skip these 3 parts if you already know this.

The main components in food is:

• Carbohydrates (carbs)
• Protiens
• Fats

Carbohydrates are used as energy by your body, but different sources of carbs can release this energy at a greater rate than others. This is know at the GI (Glycemic Index), which is the rate the energy is released. Typically you want to stay away from High GI foods, as it is a short burst of energy. Low GI foods are good because the provide a slow sustained release of energy to the body.

Some High GI carb foods:

• Refined sugars (such as that found in Candy and Coke)
• Only Some fruits (such as Watermelon)

Some Medium GI carb foods:

• Fruit
• White Rice

Some Low GI carb foods:

• Brown rice
• Wholemeal bread
• Oats

Proteins are the building blocks of your body. They are used to grow and repair all the cells in your body, such as muscle tissue, skin, hair etc. Without protein in your diet your body can't renew these cells, meaning quality protein is essential in your diet. That said, there is a limit how much protein you should take in, both in each meal, and in a total day. This also varies on your body size and how much excercise you do.

Good sources of proteins:

• Lean meats (chicken, steak, fish, turkey)
• Egg whites (you can have a max of 2 yolks per day)
• Protien Powders (just a convenience item, not a replacement)
• Beans, Legumes & Nuts (protein varies)

Fats believe it or not are very important no matter what your goals are. That is 'good' fats. Your body litterally needs Omega 3 Fatty acids, and all the other nutrients contained in good fats and oils.

Some of the best fats include:

• Olive Oil (great all rounder, but do not over heat)
• Flaxseed Oil (highest source of Essential Omega 3)
• Fish Oil (highest source of Non-Essential Omega 3)

Now we have gone over the components found in most foods, lets look at a diet! A balanced diet for a weight gain body builder usually consists of:

• 40% Calories from carbs
• 40% Calories from protiens
• 20% Calories from fats

Remember, we are talking calorie % not volume.

Your diet should also consist of many smaller meals each day. 5 or 6 meals is best. This will boost your metabolisim (which increased muscle growth rate) as well as ensure your body never goes a long time without nutrition. If you go more than 3 hours without food (including protein) your body can go into what I call 'efficient mode'. This mode is where your body thinks there is a shortage of food, so then it lowers the importancy of growth, and can then go into a 'catabolic' state, which means your body can eat at its own muscles to get that protein it needs. You want to stay in an 'anabolic' state, which means your body is constantly in a growth mode - you can do this by eating 5 small balanced meals each day.

Since this can be hard to do (especially if you're at school or work) many people (including myself) simply have a plan like this:

• Meal 1 - Breakfast
• Meal 2 - Shake (prepared at work)
• Meal 3 - Lunch
• Meal 4 - Shake (prepared at work)
• Meal 5 - Dinner
• Meal 6 - Extra meal depending if you have 5 or 6

That way you can just bring a shaker to work, and mix it up there.

Step 5: Create your diet - Part 2

Now you have all the foundations on how to build a diet, including Calorie Requirements, Calorie Split up and Meal Structuring, you can now plan your actual diet, what you will eat.

So each meal, aim at getting 40/40/20 Carbs, Proteins, Fats in calories. You can calculate how many Calories, Carbs, Proteins, Fats are in any food, at this excellent website:

www.nutritiondata.com

An example lunch meal could be:
200g Chicken breast
20g Olive oil
1 Cup Brown rice
1 Cup Vegetables

I could give you endless options to meals, but you now have the tools to calculate calories and all the % for any foods. The above meal is a good example because it has a clear source of each component needed in a well balanced meal.

Step 6: Training Overview

Training is the other 50%. Once you have your diet in order, we need to put all those calories to work! You will be eating an excess of quality calories, but if you don't train then it will simply turn to fat.

Think of muscle as a luxury item for your body. Muscle takes a lot of resources to grow (energy, protein, rest, etc.) so your body will generally only grow muscle if:

• You have a calorie surplus
• You have a consistent supply of calories and protein to your body
• You have sufficient rest
• You train the muscles to give them a reason to grow

You need all of these components to maximise your muscle gains, because with all of these your body is happy to gain muscle, as it is in the belief that you have plentiful nutrition & rest, as well as a reason to grow. So now you know how your body thinks, lets have a look at some training principles.

First, let's get the lingo out of the way if you don't already know it!

• Reps = The amount of times you repeat a movement in an exercise. For example, the amount of times you lift a dumbbell up and down.
• Sets = When you perform multiple reps in a row for a particular exercise. For example, if you lift a dumbbell up and down for 10 reps, you just did a set of 10. You usually have a short rest after a set before performing the next.

Examples of these terms:

4x10 DB Curls
=
4 Sets of 10 Reps or Dumbbell Curls
=
Means 10 dumbbell curls, then short rest, then repeat total of 4 times.

Step 7: Training

If you are new to training and are on the skinny side, it can be a good idea to start by 'laying the foundations' by increasing your strength. You can do this by using the various machines at your gym to work all of the muscle groups. These groups are generally:

• Chest Press
• Seated Row
• Tricep Press
• Bicep Curls
• Quadricep Extentions
• Hamstring Curls
• Leg Press
• Calf Extension
• Back Extensions
• Shoulder Press
• Ab Machine / Crunches

How many times to do each exercise?
Each exercise you should do 3 sets of 12, assuming you are a beginner.

How much weight?
You should put on enough weight that you cannot do more than 15 reps, and enough weight that you can do at least 10 reps. Your last rep (eg. 12th rep) should be quite hard to complete.

What about technique & form?
This is very important. Firstly, before you start an exercise, get yourself comfortable, and in a good posture with your back straight and head up - no slouching! If you start hunching over or wiggling/swaying or whatever in order to get the weight up, that means it's to heavy.

If you get into bad habits like this in early stages, they can be very hard to correct later. Start on weights you are comfortable with in order to keep correct form. You should still have a quite hard last rep with correct form and correct weight.

How often do I train and recovery?
You can start by doing all the above exercises in the same session, or you can split it in half and do your upper body on one day, then the next day do lower body. This can depend on your fitness level also.

If you train everything on one day, you will need at least a day recovery. You should never train the same muscle 2 days in a row! This will not allow the muscle a chance to repair itself. If you want to split it up, upper body/lower body, you can train every day, and take every 3rd day off for example. It all depends on how you and your muscles feel, but again give at least 48 hours for a muscle to recover, but not training it 2 days in a row.

Down the track when you feel stonger, and have made good progress on your weights, you can look at a more details split, for example:

• Day 1: Chest & Triceps
• Day 2: Back & Biceps
• Day 3: Legs
• Day 4: Abs

By doing this you can dedicate more energy to each muscle group and can then push them much harder. But again, you don't want to go to crazy if you're a beginner, as you can possibly get bad habits or form.

When you progress and am beyond beginner stage
Once you feel confident you are targeting your muscles very well, and have made good gains, you can start to do a more detailed split up of your program (as said above) and really start to push your muscles. This will mean you need a longer recovery also, and your nutrition requirements will increase as you make more gains.

You can also look at doing lower reps and heavier weight. Perhaps 8-10 reps. Every few weeks, you should also change your training techniques, as your body can get used to it and stop making gains. This can involve changing how many reps/sets you do, or they exercise you do to target a muscle. You can also look as super setting, which is where you do 2 exercises in a row.

What about other guys in the gym, they'll think I'm weak!
I felt intimidated when I first joined a gym, but you very quickly realise that no one really cares what you are doing. There's all sorts of people in gyms, with all levels of strength, size and skill.

You will find just being polite and friendly that other people are like this too, usually. Respect goes to you for working to change your body. And you will get much more respect by lifting a lighter weight using excellent form, compared to the other guy lifting too much weight and looking stupid. Any good body builder knows form and progress, not ego, is key to success.

How should you time your diet around your training?
Timing your diet can be difficult if you work or go to school, but if you can do it, it will benefit your training.

In general, you want to have 2 solid meals in (with good sources of carbohydrates and protein) before you hit the gym. You should also have at least an hour (1-2 hours is good) gap between your last meal and training. This allows time for your digestive system to get the energy out of the food and into your body ready to pump out a training session. I like to have some higher GI carbs about 30 minutes before a gym session (such as fruit and honey), as this gives a raised level of energy.

After your workout is just as important. Immediately after your workout, you should have some fast absorbing protein and carbs. The carbs are to restore your energy (fruit is great for this), and the protein is to give your body the building blocks it needs to recover and later repair (grow!) your muscle.

Protein Powder in the form of Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) is a convenient way to do this. Don't mix with milk for your post-workout shake, only mix it with water, as it will absorb quickly enough then.

I also believe egg whites are a quickly absorbing protein, however not everyine can have 8 of them raw, as there is a risk of salmonella.

Step 8: Keep sticking with it!

Hopfully this article has helped give you some tools and knowledge so you can reach your goals with a bit more ease. This was written by a guy who has learned how to gain muscle after being skinny, over the 7 months of training on a so far successful journey.

The information presented in this article is not guarenteed in any way, and is not written by a medical, training or any professional. You should always consult your doctor before commencing any training program or diet change.

We wish you the best of luck on your muscle gaining journey!

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